The Primary Capital Programme at a glance
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Purpose:
- Rebuild, remodel or refurbish about half of primary schools
- Supports national policy agenda: Children’s Plan, world class standards, ECM, diversity and responsiveness, extended services, personalisation
- Targeted to address deprivation nationally and in every local authority
- Primary schools at the heart of the community, with ICT and children’s services in reach of every family
- Improve links between schools and early years settings –e.g. through co-location with Sure Start Children’s Centres and other children’s services
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Scope and timescale:
- Funding starts in 2008 and expected to run for 14 years, subject to future government spending decisions
- All primary schools eligible; including middle-deemed primary, VA foundation and Trust schools and primary-age specials schools
- Year 1 funding for regional pilots; all local authorities involved from Year 2
- Schools not receiving extra investment continue to receive annual capital grant
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Funding:
- Additional ring-fenced £150 million in 2008–09 rising to £650 million in 2009-10, and £1.1 billion in 2010-11.
- Funding for VA schools at the usual 90% rate.
- Baselines to remain at £500 million a year for the duration of the programme, subject to future government spending decisions
- Allocation by formula based on the number of primary pupils and deprivation, with a floor to protect smaller authorities
- Added impact by joining up with existing DCSF funding streams
- Greater added impact by joining up with eligible capital from other government departments and local resources
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Targets and planning:
- Targets and planning ensure investment hits need
- Step-change from patch and mend and disjointed investment to strategic, service-wide planning and redesign
- Joined-up planning alongside other national and local priorities and initiatives, particularly Sure Start Children’s Centres
- National objectives translated into local strategic infrastructure plans, approved by DCSF to release funding
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Design, procurement and skills
- Promotes excellent design and sustainability
- Long-term strategic programme offers potential for efficiencies
- Develop best practice partnering with private sector, including local education partnerships where already set up through BSF
- Develop skills necessary in schools, local authorities and private sector to deliver
- Pilots develop regional capacity to showcase and develop best practice
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. Local authorities will also be expected to take decisive action on surplus places, demographic changes and parental demand.
In assessing the Primary Strategy for Change the Department will look for evidence that the authority is taking or planning to take decisive action to:
- raise standards by bringing new providers into the system and increasing the diversity of primary school provision in the area;
- enhance self-governance across the local primary schools, facilitating the LA's role as the commissioner, not direct provider, of school places;
- develop robust strategies for tackling the lowest attaining schools. For example, closure and no replacement (where rolls are falling), closure followed by the replacement of the school through the incorporation of primary provision into an Academy where one is being developed nearby, or closure followed by a new school competition. A primary-only Academy may emerge from such a competition;
- strengthen the governance of schools through Trust partnerships with external partners such as secondary schools and business;
- provide for primary schools to work more closely together to raise standards, preferably via federations, consolidated through Trust arrangements;
- incorporate plans to expand popular and successful primary schools to meet parental demand, or where this is not possible, through extending the influence of such schools via Trusts or federations.
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